RIDE AFTER A DEACDE | JAGESHWAR DHAM
11 years ago, we throttled into the horizon on a ZMR—conquering Ladakh’s moonscapes, its icy passes scribbling ‘forever’ on our souls. That was our last ride. Then life hit like a blind curve.
Took us 11 years to start it again. But never did we think in those 11 years it was over. Sometimes you have to wait for the right time and when it is ripe you go for it. Trust me every moment was worth the wait.
Today, we restart. Not on the ZMR, but a Vstrom 250—lighter, wiser, and hungry for new trails. And where else? Jageshwar—where time moves to the rustle of deodar forests older than empires, where the air smells of pine resin and temple incense, where every switchback reveals another stone shrine half-swallowed by roots,
as if the Himalayas themselves are praying.
But Jageshwar isn’t just the forests or the gods—it’s the dawn chorus of steel pans at the temple stalls, the hiss of golden pooris diving into hot oil, the tang of aloo-sabzi that tastes like a homecoming. That first bite of crisp-edged poori, the steam fogging my visor—this is my pilgrimage. No ride here is complete without this ritual:
grease on our fingers, sun on our backs, and the road humming ahead.
This place has always been my compass. The deodars stand like silent monks, their branches catching the whispers of a thousand pilgrims. The roads here don’t just bend—they spiral, like life’s unanswered questions. And when the mist rolls in? The world shrinks to just your headlight’s golden cone, the weight of your pillion’s trust, and the crunch of sacred earth under rubber.
But here’s the truth no one tells you: When we’re on the bike together, labels dissolve. Not husband and wife. Not ‘partner’ or ‘better half.’ Just two souls synced to the same rhythm— the engine’s pulse, the wind’s hymn, the unspoken language of leaning into the same curve. It’s the closest thing to breathing pure, unfiltered freedom.
Same love. Different machines. Same us.
#RestartRide – because the best stories have pit stops, not endings.
#DeodarDreams | #PooriPilgrimage | #JageshwarWhispers
